1 - I'll be locked up for killing the entire bridal team before the first round of bucks fizz has been poured.
2 - I gain some serious level of sass over the years and become able to deal with any shit thrown in my direction by a variety of 'getting married' ass holes.
My mum Tracy is a hairdresser, and on many occasions throughout the year we bring our shit hot skills and unite to making quite possibly the most bad ass team I have ever come across. That being said it is the only time in my entire life that I listen to every word she says, don't chat back and put that roller EXACTLY where I'm told.
This morning - after leaving a wonderful wedding of gorgeous, calm, chilled out girls - we were done by 11.00am. This in itself was a rarity, and so we took full advantage and enjoyed a coffee in Clifton village reflecting on how lovely it is to be self employed and doing a job we love. In fact, we've nothing short of smashed it. Jokes, she paid for my cappuccino and being only one year deep, I'm still in minus. However, In five years time I'll own the empty shop I was staring at all morning running a Bridal mafia team.
On our way back we were discussing a family situation which is very close to our hearts and means that our loved ones are going through immense sadness. Made even worse by there being absolutely nothing we can do to fix it. Bad timing of the upsetting conversation we were having, Trace's phone started to ring and she asked me to take a message. She's often joked about paying me to be her PA but that would be pushing it on the being told what to do by my mum 24/7 front so I only do it when there's no choice. I actually have a top telephone voice if I do say so myself so these things don't phase me. However, dealing with idiots is something I'm not so good at as was made very apparent today.
"Hi, Please can I speak to Tracy?"
You know when you shouldn't, but you instantly judge someone by there condescending tone of voice and pretentious (big words) manner and think 'Bring it'...
"Hello, it's Sasha speaking, Tracy's daughter, Tracy is driving at the moment please can I take a message for her"
Lady - "Oh right, well I've sent Tracy an email and she hasn't replied, I'm trying to sort out my daughters wedding hair and as it's proving quite difficult so I thought it best I called."
"Ok, no problem if I could just take your name I can make sure she see's to the email ASAP and gets back to you"
Lady - "Right well the situation is, I need to know if she's available or not as I'm trying to get this sorted for my daughter this weekend so if you could ask her to reply to my email as soon as she's available that would be great" (you know when people finish their sentence with the word 'great' and the 'T' is the only thing you hear!
"When did you send the email?"
at this point I'm still managing to keep calm because for all I know she could have sent the email months ago and hasn't heard from Mum meaning she has every reason to be annoyed.
Lady - "I sent it this morning"
She's about to wish she clicked on the next link down on Google...
"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that, but we've actually been working this morning so there's no way she would have seen the email as of yet (lady did not need to know about the coffee break in Clifton delaying her email response time) We're currently driving back home and as soon as she get's to her computer I'll make sure she gets back to you before anybody else. What date is the wedding?"
Before I'd even put the phone down I'd decided that 31st October was FULLY booked whether Princess wants our services or not. Regardless of the the intense conversation we had previously been having - I did not want to be dealing with this shitty tone of voice whilst stuck in traffic. It's this sort of situation which literally puts me off getting married myself. It's every girls absolute dream to have the big perfect day. Whilst I can 100% relate to wanting those things, and don't take me wrong I am excited about spending the rest of my life with someone (could be you if you're lucky babes, I know you're reading), and not just the morning where me and my best friends will be getting pissed on Champagne and taking selfies, I don't see the point. Marriage to me is something very important and also very close to my heart. Having divorced parents, Grand Parents and just generally every marriage in my family failing, it's the one thing I'm determined not to screw up. Being confused as to what marriage actually consists of, I'm also aware it's not as easy as 'making it work' or not. Which is why I think it's important to make sure you know.
Working in this industry has really made me question how may people get married because they want to make that commitment or whether they want to look incredible for one day and get over 200 likes on a photo posted on Facebook (obvs can't wait for that also). It's OK to want both but if the commitment comes first then getting stressed about what shade of mascara you have on the day and how you're going to eat your croissant whilst the photographer 'captures the moment' is something I can't relate to. If you can plan the shade of mascara without stress then by all means, crack on - But don't live, sleep, breathe and eat wedding planning if it's going to turn you into a total dragon. The most important thing for me when I get married is the fact I will have the most special people in my life all together (just saying that makes my blood pressure go) for one day witnessing me make the promise to give my best chance at making a marriage work. The stunning dress, choosing bridesmaids and most importantly what everybody is going to eat throughout the day are just added bonus's that I refuse to let myself get stressed about. Because going back to our conversation in the car this afternoon, there really are much more important things going on in our worlds.
So to the lady with attitude phone voice, I hope you've found somebody to do your daughters wedding hair because the A Team are already booked (genuinely). And, if you're the next Bride and want you're wedding pictures to look on par with a Bridal magazine cover photo I suggest you do the following - Plan in advance, know what you want, be patient, and don't pick bridesmaids who will disagree with everything you tell them they're having and wearing...us wedding services have bigger bitches to fry!
SLP x
